The Battle of Tassafaronga 1942 - US Heavy Cruisers chase down the Japanese Destroyers - Animated

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cruisers the japanese situation on guadalcanal is getting serious with few remaining transports the imperial japanese navy has tried moving supplies to troops on the island using destroyers but these take too long to unload at the improvised ports and often find themselves attacked by us aircraft on the way back north the following morning instead supplies are delivered by submarines which can approach and leave underwater and undetected but with an even more limited cargo capacity than the destroyers the food and medical equipment they are able to bring is usually only enough to supply the troops on guadalcanal for the following day moving these supplies to the front line is difficult and the japanese land forces are beginning to starve with many troops becoming combat ineffective additionally neither of these solutions can bring in the artillery and tanks that the japanese need to take the offensive even to hold the ground they have more of the basic supplies are needed a new idea is devised old oil drums are cleaned out filled with food and other supplies sealed and tied together with chains and ropes into sections and loaded onto some of the remaining destroyers the idea is to charge towards the island at speed and throw the drums overboard before turning away and heading for safety under the cover of darkness the drums should either wash ashore on the tide or at least drift close enough for swimmers and small boats to tow them ashore the greater carrying capacity of the destroyers and their ability to arrive in numbers should in theory boost the levels of supplies on the island and bring the troops back up to fighting fitness admiral tanaka one of the imperial japanese navy's best commanders is assigned to this task although not pleased at having his destroyers turned into impromptu freighters he knows how vital this task is he has at his disposal eight destroyers two naganami and takanami remain fully armed the other six kuroshio oyoshio kaguero suzukaze kawakaze and makinami are loaded with the strings of supply drums to compensate for the additional weight the additional torpedoes of boards that are normally available for reloads are left behind these ships will only have their guns and the torpedoes already in the launchers should they run into trouble thanks to allies signals decryption experts the united states navy has learned when tanaka is planning to make his supply run with this warning the us navy is deploying to intercept tanaka's force before tanaka himself has set out as the japanese destroyer set sail an australian coast watcher spots them and reports their activity the coast watchers are a team of elite spotters scattered all over the island chain often behind enemy lines for exactly this sort of event this report is further confirmed by u.s recon aircraft the us navy has been trying to put together another cruiser group after the damage and losses of the first night of the naval battle of guadalcanal although uss washington had done well the following night uss south dakota is now out of action and admiral halsey does not want to risk the one operational battleship he has with him fortunately reinforcements have arrived at the u.s anchorage in esperito santo and a new task force 67 is formed around them with a number of cruisers and destroyers shaved off from other duties like carrier and convoy escort task 467 consists of the newer heavy cruisers minneapolis and new orleans the older heavy cruisers pensacola and northampton and the brooklyn class light cruiser honolulu along with them are the destroyers fletcher drayton maury and perkins this force was originally to be led by admiral kincaid but orders from on high mean that he is reassigned and rear admiral carlton wright formerly of the cruiser uss augusta who has not seen surface combat thus far in the war and who has just arrived aboard uss minneapolis is given command the us force has moved out to intercept passing through the lengo channel and between the florida and guadalcanal islands aiming to meet the enemy in the small gap between sabo island and guadalcanal the area that has seen so much action over the preceding months on the way they nearly collide with a us supply convoy with five destroyers moving east having completed their supply drop in the area of henderson field admiral wright orders two of the convoys escorts uss lamson and uss lardner to join the aft of task force 67's line he receives an update that the enemy force will probably be made up entirely of destroyers although it is also suggesting that they might be landing reinforcements as well as supplies rights cruisers launch their own scout aircraft for evening recon with orders to land at nearby us bases once they have completed their sweeps they are then to refuel and take off to provide flare drops in the night action avoiding having to deal with the risk of fully fueled aircraft on the cruiser's decks however weather conditions at the us bases prevents them from taking off again in time to join in the action that is about to occur at the japanese fleet tanaka receives reports that a japanese aircraft has spotted a supply convoy the one that wright had borrowed a couple of destroyers from earlier and he concludes that any convoy must have an escort if there is an escort then it must be nearby and he can expect to meet resistance however unlike other japanese admirals who have fought in this campaign tanaka is not just prepared for this he has already briefed his captains that even though they're on a supply run if they come across enemy ships they should prioritize destroying them tanaka leads his ship southeast between savo island and guadalcanal whilst the u.s ships are heading northwest with fletcher leading the three destroyers the formation has started with then the flagship minneapolis leads the cruisers new orleans pensacola honolulu and northampton every ship in the formation except the last destroyer and the two older heavy cruisers have sg radar moving at 12 to 15 knots the japanese ships prepare to deploy their supply drums as multiple us ships coming the other way at 20 knots begin to pick up the japanese ships on radar well beyond any reasonable gun range at night [Music] the us formation tightens up and heads in whilst the japanese unaware of the danger start to loosen the supply drums from their shackles they are about to throw them into the sea when six minutes after the us radar spotted the imperial japanese navy tanaka's flagship spots the u.s ships he orders the rest of the japanese destroyers to stop what they're doing and prepare to fight the range closes rapidly and the u.s destroyers now only 7 000 yards away ask for permission to fire their torpedoes as they are under orders not to fire without direct permission from the admiral unless they are below 6 000 yards and have a confirmed enemy contact but at this moment the two formations are about to pass each other and a launch now will mean the torpedoes can be fired at the oncoming japanese ships closing the gap quickly and over an optimally short range but nothing comes back minutes tick by and then admiral wright refuses permission claiming that the range is too long the range is actually less than half the maximum reach of a mark 15 torpedo which uss fletcher's captain william cole wastes no time in letting the admiral know a couple more minutes pass and eventually the order to fire is given unfortunately during the time from the initial request the two formations have closed and are now passing each other so the deflection angle needed means the us torpedoes almost two dozen of which are now in the water have to chase the japanese destroyers meaning a much longer run time slower closing speed and easier evasion if the weapons are spotted perkins fletcher and drayton have launched uss maury the sole destroyer in the leading part of the formation without radar does not launch as it has no enemy contacts a minute later wright orders the us cruisers to open fire defeating the point of a surprise torpedo strike since the us torpedoes are still on route and the destroyers in accordance with the battle plans fire star shells for illumination every us cruiser takes aim at the closest japanese destroyer takanami she manages to launch all of her torpedoes before being reduced to a flaming wreck the us ships mistakenly note that she is an otago class cruiser further back in the darkness the other seven japanese destroyers are accelerating out of the line of advance for the american torpedoes which after missing beach themselves harmlessly they then swing 180 degrees onto a parallel course with the american ships whilst laying smoke and salvoing off their own torpedoes within 10 minutes of the engagement opening the first of almost four dozen long-range japanese torpedoes are on their way despite having ordered a torpedo attack by his destroyers wright and a number of his captains do not seem to consider that they are in range of the enemies torpedoes possibly due to a claim by the bureau of ordinance back home that the japanese could never build a torpedo as good as american weapons this proves to be a critical mistake as the us cruiser line proceeds steadily without varying course or speed the first japanese torpedoes arrive two blow holes in uss minneapolis crippling her engines with one hit and blowing out so much of her hull just forward of her guns that the bow folds down as if on a hinge leaving her with significant flooding almost immediately the next ship in line new orleans is also hit detonating the forward magazine and a number of associated storage spaces the entire bowel tears off having seen the two leading cruisers hit pensacola just keeps on going maintaining course and speed with a minimal adjustment support to avoid the slowing forms of the minneapolis and new orleans somewhat unsurprisingly she is now also hit by a torpedo which sets her on fire tearing off her portside propeller shaft and leaving her without power but with a worrying list uss honolulu under captain hayler ordered his ship to full speed and takes evasive action passing on the starboard side of the other ships whilst keeping up fast fire with his 6-inch guns he thus manages to avoid being hit the last creature in line is northampton and for some reason despite having seen what's happened to the cruisers ahead her captain decides to hold course and speed as the first three cruisers had done with a minor detour to starboard around what is now three slowing and burning ships northampton is now also hit by a pair of torpedoes spotting them at the last minute the ship tries to swing to port but to no avail the hits knock out most of the ship's propulsion and set her on fire the two detonations occur almost at the same time and most of those aboard only feel one massive shock and see a single column of towering water alongside the aft engine room and several other compartments is now open to the sea and a 10 degree list of port develops all but the outer starboard propeller are disabled and all communication after the impact area is temporarily knocked out fuel from tanks in the path of the explosions is thrown everywhere and catches fire rapidly growing into an uncontrollable inferno in a case of mistaken identity new orleans opens fire on the two newly recruited destroyers bringing up the rear they break away from the gunfire and head into the darkness the four leading destroyers are now in the straits between guadalcanal and sapo island and need to go around savo to come back and assist turning hard in the strait would leave them incredibly vulnerable but this will take far too long to have an effect on the battle and leaves the same passage open for tanaka to make good an escape with a final salvo of torpedoes the japanese vessels speed away northwest towards home leaving two ships behind to try and help take an army but with honolulu in the area they decide the burning and abandoned ship isn't worth risking themselves over and they also withdraw for the u.s ships it is now a struggle for survival northampton doesn't last long efforts to control the list by transferring of ballast and remaining fuel as well as counter flooding has little to no effect less than two hours after the torpedoes struck the vessel is abandoned and she rolls over and sinks luckily with the departure of tanaka's force many of the survivors are rescued by small craft based on guadalcanal the other three cruisers that have been hit managed to make their way slowly to tulagi which luckily is not too far away arriving with fires and flooding still ongoing assisted by four other destroyers while two others helped the northampton survivors one safely alongside pensacola is patched up and sent south for repairs within a week she survived fires and the destination of numerous shells in her aft magazine the other two ships need temporary bowels made from coconut logs to keep the pressure off the internal bulkheads they also make it to drydock safely although all three ships will need almost a year of repairs the battle is something of a disaster leaving the u.s navy now with only just over a dozen cruisers in the entire pacific theatre wright escapes reprimand by claiming he'd sunk two japanese light cruisers and seven destroyers in exchange although in reality only one japanese destroyer has been lost the positive for the u.s navy is that the japanese supply run itself was not completed and between small boats and air attacks further attempts to land supplies are mostly or entirely disrupted within a fortnight of the engagement the japanese navy is advocating that kwado can now be abandoned and by the end of the month approval for an evacuation has been given over the next few weeks one last struggle plays out between the japanese evacuation efforts and the us forces trying to close the net call of war is a free online player versus player strategy game that takes place in world war ii click the link in the description below for 13 000 gold and one month of premium for free choose your country and fight your way to victory today this video was written by friend of the channel drak nfl for naval history documentaries and discussion please check out his channel

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 840,243

Rating: 4.9281125 out of 5

Keywords: battleship, ww2, history, time-lapse, animated, time lapse, warship, second world war, documentary, guadalcanal, us navy, war in the pacific, japanese navy, uss northampton, uss new orleans, uss minneapolis, battle of tassafaronga

Id: e2-fGkYVwcI

Length: 16min 22sec (982 seconds)

Published: Sat May 08 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/StoneColdCrazzzy]

Great video!

[u/STUFF416]

Love these videos! I can't help but feel that the early war US Navy really stunk at torpedo warfare.

[u/fro99er]

Awesome! Operations room is one of the best content creators on youtube